Furano a ski resort town in central Hokkaido, apparently known as “the navel of Hokkaido”(!!), is holding a series of promotional events. They will be showing some powder DVDs and giving out some info.

High profile snowboarder and frequent updater of the LPL list Al Ferguson has stashed his snowboard in the shed – permanently.
Sick of ever-increasing queues, lift prices and the slushy sugary snow of the Thredbo lower slopes, Ferguson has turned to the back country to satisfy his cravings for the white stuff.

“Once I strapped on the X-country skis, I felt lighter, freer more spiritual even. I’m skiing with the mountain now, not against it. It’s a revelation!” Ferguson gushes.

His old snowboarding crew were cagey about Al’s new obsession -

“I dunno man. If its what he wants, go for it.” One boarder said. “Whatever makes him happy”.
Others were less forgvining. “As far as I’m concerned, Al’s gone off the rails”.

Al Ferguson can now be found lurking around the bargain section of Paddy Palin, perusing out of date camping food and sporting last years thermal underwear – worn on the outside…

Jindabyne town is still buzzing from last nights Red Bull Rails final, one of the hugest events to be held in Jindabyne. The 2005 Red Bull Rails event saw some of the country’s most talented skiers and snowboarders take on one of Australia’s most technically difficult rail-sliding courses; Mt Red Bull behind the old shopping centre in Thredbo Terrace car park Jindy. DJ Rare kept the tunes kicking on throughout the evening.

A huge snow covered Mt was erected on scaffolding in the car park and thousands of excited and cheering fans amped the competitors who pulled off some amazing stunts.

Students / Craig Borrow
Cold play … Students from Bena Primary School in Gippsland / Craig Borrow

A LIGHT dusting of snow fell on Hobart’s central business district this morning, the first snow to fall on the city in nine years. The cold snap continued from yesterday, when a blast of freezing air pushed up from Antarctica, producing snow that dusted Parliament House, teased Hobart and blanketed large tracts of Victoria in what might be the lowest-lying snowfalls recorded.

While the snowflakes failed to settle in Hobart’s city centre today, many suburban residents woke to blankets of snow on their front doorsteps.

Malcolm Downing, senior forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology, said substantial falls were recorded to 100 metres above sea level.

Some areas in the southeast and far south of Tasmania received up to 20 centimetres of snow, while towns closer to Hobart recorded up to six centimetres.

Mr Downing said snow was predicted again tonight and could settle briefly around the city’s more elevated suburbs.

Meanwhile, more heavy snowfalls were expected on NSW ski slopes today, and there were suggestions other parts of the state could also be in for a sprinkling sparked by the cold snap.

A NSW Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said a cold front with a south-westerly air stream, which caused the snow, had passed through NSW.

The result was another “unbelievable powder day” with “snow as good as it gets” on the NSW ski fields, he said.

Conditions would be perfect for skiers due to big snow falls in the past 24 hours, the spokesman said.

“This amount of snow cover is going to give skiers an unbelievable powder day, in fact it’s safe to say this would be as good as it gets.”

More than 15cm of snow had fallen on Thredbo ski fields in the past 24 hours, while Perisher Blue received 25cm.

The weather bureau has called the freak conditions a “cold outbreak” – an unusual event where a mass of air travels at speed behind a cold front, too quickly for the sun and warmer sea temperatures to heat it.

“There’s only one way this can happen and that’s one of these cold outbreaks from the deep south,” senior forecaster Stuart Williams said.

“I would have to say it is the most widespread snowfall I have seen in my 21 years at the bureau, and there’s a good possibility that it is the first time it has snowed in many of these (Victorian) localities.”

Yesterday, two people died near Beechworth, in northeastern Victoria, when their car skidded and flipped on to its roof. “There was a lot of snow and ice on the road,” an ambulance spokeswoman said.

Elsewhere in Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula, Ballarat, Gippsland, the La Trobe Valley and suburban Melbourne received falls that forced the closure of several roads and schools.

In the ACT, the Brindabella Ranges received up to 30cm of snow, and the central and southern tablelands of NSW also received falls.

But snow forecast for Melbourne’s CBD failed to materialise, and the temperature climbed to 10.4C in the city. It had been predicted that yesterday would be the coldest day of winter. The temperature was well above Melbourne’s coldest recorded day, in 1872, when the thermometer dipped to 6.7C.

The last time it snowed in Melbourne’s suburbs was in June 1986, while the last major Melbourne snowfall was in 1951.

At Mirboo North primary school in West Gippsland, about 120 students who travelled to school by bus faced the prospect of spending the night at school as parents tried to make their way along snow-blanketed roads to collect their children.

But the school’s vice-principal Garry Adams said by late yesterday afternoon, all the children had either returned home or made arrangements to be picked up by friends or relatives.

It was the first time most of the Mirboo North schoolchildren had seen snow. “They were so excited when they first got to school,” Mr Adams said.

“All the faces were at the window, and looking at it with astonishment in their eyes.”

Canberra received snowshowers, but the snow failed to settle on the ground.

Temperatures are expected to be cold again today in Victoria, but a repeat of yesterday’s snowfalls is not forecast.

Hmm, so much for the MRF I posted last week…so do you want the good news or the bad news? Well, mother nature hit us with the bad news first – rain, & lots of it! The cold air didnt reach the mountains soon enough to turn all that precipitation to snow last night, but today it started snowing, with most resorts claiming 15cm, & more expected overnight.

So not the mega-dump we’d hoped for, but at least the forecast for the next few weeks is looking quite good, & for now the hills are white again & the farmers will be happy about the rain

Thredbo valley view camera looking much healthier after a few fluffy flakes fell.

After a largely wet weekend, with snow-showers on the upper slopes, the resorts have quite variable conditions – generally good up high, but icy & thin towards the base. Thredbo suffered quite badly & the lower mountain is closed (other than Friday Flat).

We currently have a mixed bag of weather on its way to the Alps – cold air, tropical moisture, a deep low to the south & a fat trailing high… so what’s going to happen? It’s anyones guess – forecasts are ranging from pissing down rain to a big 50cm dump! So we watch & wait…

It did actually snow up high on Saturday – looks great in fact!

Nothing to get too excited about at this stage – lets hope the forecast improves